How to reduce no show appointments today

The administrative problem of no show appointments

In a recent meeting with a practice, we asked a lot of questions and got to their real issue: patients cancelling at the last minute because they forgot about the appointment they made a long time ago.

How to reduce no show appointments is a question we get a lot.

The loss of the appointment time is obvious; the loss of the new patient is even worse.

The ‘one and done’ message

A ‘one and done’ message reminder process 2 days before the appointment has many pain points:

·No time remaining to schedule another patient from a canceled appointment

·Assumes patient knows how to prepare for follow-up, fasting lab or new patient visits

·Cannot differentiate between patients needing new information forms or just updates

·Inability to link to automated appointment rescheduling, spend more time on the phone

·Calls typically made when the practice is closed, patient must take initiative to call back

·No support to follow-up on no show appointments

The impact of isolated, stand-alone reminder providers is several no-shows per day, leading to physician burn out from over scheduling.

This over scheduling almost guarantees long lines at check in, limited time with the patient and a practice that suffers from the culture of frustration.

Its important, communicate more than once

The Patient Communications Gateway from Micro Office Systems solves these problems and does so automatically with contacts specific to the patient visit and using the method the patient wants.The Gateway gives your staff the time to do what they do best, welcome your patients to your practices and be uninterrupted by phone calls when your patients are there.

Reminders are another patient communication opportunity to show you care about your patient’s time and health.Choose a system that can take advantage of this opportunity and bring a personalized process that represents the best aspects of your practice.